Dual Language eyes another old Catholic school in Bethlehem

HARRISBURG — The Dual Language Charter School is eyeing another old Catholic grade school as a possible second site should its legal problems end with the Bethlehem Area School District.

Earlier this week, Commonwealth Court in a 2-1 decision ruled that charter schools can open more than one school by amending the charters they hold with a local school board. The decision overturned rulings by the Bethlehem School Board and the state Department of Education's Charter Appeal Board.

Both boards had based their denials on the 1997 charter school law, which does not give local charter schools, except in Philadelphia, the right to operate more than one school under the same non-amended charter.

Dual Language, located since 2010 in the former Ss. Cyril and Methodius School in south Bethlehem, is in negotiations with the Allentown Diocese to use the old Seton Academy in west Bethlehem for middle school students in sixth- through eighth-grade.

"That's in the first early stages of negotiations," said Dual Language Principal Lisa Pluchinsky.

The diocese closed Seton Academy in 2013 due to low enrollment.

Aug. 18 is the first day Dual Language students come back to school from summer break. That's less than a month away.

But Pluchinsky said Dual Language could move the middle schoolers to the Seton Academy site by the start of school if a rent agreement is reached and the district does not appeal the court decision and drops other objections to an expansion.

"If we push it, we are ready to move," Pluchinsky said.

Dual Language's solicitor Brian Leinhauser said he was hoping district officials would make a quick decision on whether to appeal so the charter school could move ahead with its expansion plans for the school year.

"I did hope they would make a decision sooner rather than later so we can get all our ducks in a row," he said. "Until we hear from them, we are in hurry up and wait mode."

The school district administration and board are still debating whether to appeal the court decision to either the full Commonwealth court or state Supreme Court, said Superintendent Joseph Roy. But the decision, which carried a dissenting opinion, may be too important for the district not to appeal, he said.

"I believe the dissenting opinion in the case gets it right and that the implications for our district and for districts across the state are likely too significant to not appeal a 2-1 Commonwealth Court decision," Roy said.

In writing the majority opinion, Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer said Commonwealth Court has decided in lawsuits involving Montessori Charter School in Erie and Northside Urban Pathways in Pittsburgh that more than one charter school site is permitted. Adding new locations to handle more students is a natural progression of the Legislature's intent to expand educational choice for parents and students, Jubelirer wrote.

In a dissenting opinion, President Judge Dan Pellegrini said the Montessori case dealt with whether the charter school had properly informed the local school district with sufficient information about the facility it planned to use. It did not deal with whether more than one location was allowed under the law and the law states a second location is not permitted, Pellegrini said.

If it stands, Jubelirer's decision would alter the law for the Legislature, which has been unable to pass changes to the 17-year-old law due to partisan gridlock and lobbying efforts by charter school advocates and supporters of traditional public schools.

But Bethlehem school officials still could prolong Dual Language's expansion if it opted to go before the Charter Appeal Board to argue an expansion would hurt Dual Language's academic performance, said Leinhauser, its solicitor.

Leinhauser said he believes Bethlehem would lose the academic argument. The district did not raise questions about Dual language's academic performance when the board voted March 18, 2013, to renew its charter for another five years, he said.

As a solicitor for several charter schools, Leinhauser said, he has helped shutdown poorly performing charter schools that do not serve students and taxpayers well.

"But that is not the case here," Leinhauser said of Dual Language. "The school's academic performance has been exemplary," Leinhauser said.

The most recent state Department of Education Records show Dual Language's overall school performance indicators in math and reading are higher than the district's Donegan and Fountain Hill elementary schools, which are in south Bethlehem and Fountain Hill, respectively.

Dual Language's charter calls for a maximum of 450 students. It has added grades each year and this year for the first time will max out at the eighth-grade.

"This year we will fulfill our charter," Pluchinsky said, adding the school has no desire to go over 450 students.

There is not enough room for all the students at the old Ss. Cyril and Methodius School, she said. During its Catholic school days, the building had one class room per grade, Pluchinsky said. Dual Language has two classes per grade.

"Last year, as a K-7 [school] we implemented and utilized every single classroom," Pluchinsky said.